skillful
/ˈskɪl.fəl/adjective
skillful is spelled S-K-I-L-L-F-U-L. The wrong spelling people search most is skillfull: about 30 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Skillful is an adjective meaning “Possessing skill; skilled”.
How many letters and syllables are in skillful?
| Letters | 8: S-K-I-L-L-F-U-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.3 times per million words; the 24,463rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, skillfull, about 30 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell skillful?
Skillful is spelled S-K-I-L-L-F-U-L. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for skillful in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is skillful?
Skillful appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 24,463rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce skillful?
- /ˈskɪl.fəl/
- [ˈskɪɫ.fəɫ]
Skillful has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-skilful.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of skillful
- more skillful comparative
- most skillful superlative
- skilfull
- skilful
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does skillful mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
USPossessing skill; skilled.
she's a skillful mechanical
- 2
USRequiring skill.
a skillful task
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Skillful in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense possessing skill, skilled:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | habile, adroit |
| German | geschickt, gewandt |
| Portuguese | talentoso, habilidoso |
| Spanish | hábil, habilidoso, habiloso, capi, caperuzo |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does skillful come from?
From Middle English skilful, skylfull, scelvol, equivalent to skill + -ful.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).